Love & Lies

Chapter Twelve

Although they had stayed up hours trying to find more clues to the origin of the photo while many people on Twitter said it wasn't her or didn't care if it was, Jessie kept tossing and turning as her mind could not help but wander to Rob. However, the odds were in his favor that it wasn't him as Brendan told her countless times. The only people that knew where they were going were just the four of them. In fact when she texted Jordan that night to quickly say she got home safely and was going to bed, she somewhat lied saying that they just got a quick bite to eat because of the weather.

By the silence in the co-op, she assumed Brendan was probably still asleep in the spare room. She hastily tossed the covers forward and finally got out of bed. She was exhausted, but it was already eleven-thirty in the morning and she couldn't leave Jackson starving even if she let him munch away until late last night.

Having showered before she went to sleep, she made her bed before dressing into a plain white tank top and jean shorts. "Jackson, I'm coming!" Jessie called as she opened her bedroom door.

Much to her surprise, Jackson didn't respond or come trotting to her room ready to be fed. "Jackson?" she called again questioningly.

"He's just pigging out," she heard Brendan's voice joke.

Sure enough as Jessie reached the kitchen, Jackson was too busy burying his face into his food bowl while Brendan was sipping either coffee or tea from a mug. "I hope you don't mind," Brendan said, still dressed in his khakis and striped t-shirt from last night. "I promise I didn't make a mess."

Jessie couldn't help but let out a little laugh. "Since you're going to be staying a few days, by all means help yourself to anything. Are you sure you are alright staying?" she asked.

Brendan put down his mug looking at her like she had ten heads. "I'm security. That's my job," he reminded her. "While you were still sleeping, I kept checking the Internet and it seems like nobody cares. Also in the public's eyes, the picture can be anyone because it is afterall the back of your head. However, somebody did know it was you. Perhaps just a fan from afar, but still."

Jessie felt a little better, but hated thinking of the possibility that somebody was tracking her down. Even though it was that thought that kept waking her up, she knew it may seem far-fetched. However, she had to fight the unlikely vision of Robert following their car all the way to the bowling alley.

"The one thing we need to eliminate is a security breach. If you don't mind, I'm going to head back to my apartment and pack a few things. I think the best thing to do while I'm gone is contact Jenny and Lauren," he suggested after downing the rest of the contents of the mug. He got up to place the mug in the dishwasher. "Although all of Lauren's drivers have been geezers who probably wouldn't even know who you were five years ago, she would definitely want to know just in case and Jenny would be able to help up security even more if need be."

Jessie didn't want to add even more fuel to the fire with Jenny as she was going through her own ordeal, but of course she was keeping her promise to keep mum about it. "Does that mean I have to tell Jenny about - " she began, thinking about Jordan.

Brendan shook his head. "No. It is so obvious he has bought into your American persona," he said, but immediately regretted his words because of how harsh they sounded. "I didn't mean it like that. But in all seriousness, if this mysterious person keeps at you, knowing Jenny you may be moving elsewhere to keep yourself safe and forgotten and Jordan will just have to be forgotten as well."

Jessie didn't want to think about this whole situation progressing, but knew Brendan was just thinking of worst case scenarios. As much as she would hate to resort to this, Jessie decided she could always just fly back home. She was feeling somewhat better, but that certainly was not her ideal scenario. She wanted to at least last until Christmas. "Alright, I'll call them," she agreed.